Redefining Realness

Redefining Realness

Company type	Memoir
Industry	Publishing
Predecessor	Fish Food (working title)
Founded	2014
Founder	Janet Mock
Successor	Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me
Headquarters	United States
Key people	Janet Mock
Products	Memoir book
Owner	Atria Books

Redefining Realness: My Journey to Womanhood, Identity, Love & Beyond marks the 2014 memoir debut of American author and transgender rights advocate Janet Mock. Released by Atria Books, the work garnered acclaim from prominent voices such as Melissa Harris-Perry, bell hooks, Laverne Cox, and Barbara Smith. It entered The New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best Seller list at position 19. Initially named Fish Food, the memoir details Mock's experiences growing up as a transgender woman in Hawaii.

Summary

In Redefining Realness, Janet Mock shares her personal story as a transgender woman, spanning from her early years to adulthood. The account opens in 2009 with Mock disclosing her transgender identity to her boyfriend Aaron, then retraces her formative experiences.

Part One

Mock reflects on 1989 when a friend dared her to wear her grandmother’s dress, an action that resulted in family chastisement. At four years old, she uncovers her father’s extramarital affair, which ultimately causes her parents to separate. By age seven, she relocates with her father and brother to Oakland, California, where her father encourages participation in stereotypically male activities.

During this time, Mock endures molestation by the son of her father’s girlfriend. In 1992, she witnesses her father’s crack cocaine use, which erodes her admiration for him. The family moves again in 1994 to Dallas to live with paternal relatives. There, through her aunts’ influence, Mock becomes more involved in feminine pursuits and develops a close relationship with Makayla, the daughter of her father’s new partner.

Using the alias Keisha, Mock experiments with early romantic connections over the phone. When one boyfriend reveals this name to her father, he responds by cutting Mock’s hair short to enforce masculine norms. Eventually, her mother retrieves Mock and her brother and returns them to Hawaii.

Part Two

Living with their older sister Cori and her children, Mock, along with Chad and younger brother Jeff, attended school in Hawaii. It was there that Mock met Wendi, another transgender girl. This friendship bolstered Mock’s self-assurance, led to adopting a more feminine appearance, and facilitated access to estrogen treatment. At thirteen years old, Mock came out as gay to her mother; Wendi supported her transition and introduced her to other transgender women and members of the drag community.

Mock’s mother rekindled a relationship with Rick, Cori’s father. While enrolled at the academically demanding Moanalua High School, Mock joined the volleyball team and grew increasingly comfortable embracing femininity while maintaining a close bond with Wendi who developed an interest in cosmetics.

Part Three

At Moanalua High School, Mock was elected class treasurer. After secretly beginning estrogen therapy, she disclosed her female identity to family members and requested the name Janet. She faced repeated disciplinary actions for dress code violations due to wearing skirts. Advancing from oral estrogen to self-funded injections, Mock met Adrian who initially showed romantic interest but withdrew upon learning of her transgender status.

Following Rick’s arrest, the family was forced to live in a hotel. Immersed in the transgender community alongside Wendi and others, Mock entered sex work to finance hormone treatments. After further family instability and encountering transphobia at Moanalua High School, she transferred to Farrington High School where resources like a Teen Center and the Chrysalis support group for transgender youth were available. She informed her father of her identity through a letter and planned genital reconstructive surgery (GRS), working after school at a clothing store to save money. She secured a scholarship to attend the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and arranged GRS in Thailand for December 20, 2001.

Continuing employment on Merchant Street under strict conditions, she discreetly supported her family while beginning college studies. After a dangerous incident where a client stole her purse and police were unhelpful, a regular client named Sam assisted her and offered financial support for GRS; she declined but expressed interest in nude modeling opportunities he mentioned.

Mock posed for photographer Felix wearing lingerie—a choice she later regretted—earning $1,500 across two sessions.

She traveled to Bangkok for GRS performed by Dr. R. and Dr. C., where she met an older transgender woman named Genie during recovery. Upon returning home on December 28, Mock was emotionally embraced by her mother who cared for her throughout convalescence. Despite difficulties faced along the way, their familial connection remained resilient.

2009

In 2009, following her disclosure to Aaron, Mock undergoes a fluctuating relationship before reconnecting with Mia, who offers her a position at People. During this time, she reveals her transgender identity to Mia. After an eight-month period without communication, Aaron reenters her life; they reconcile and decide to live together. The memoir concludes by discussing the representation of LGBT individuals in media and the societal expectations placed on transgender women to maintain visibility.

Storygiving campaign

On Christmas Eve 2013, Mock initiated the Redefining Realness Storygiving Campaign, which fulfilled 127 requests for copies of Redefining Realness from people who could not afford the book.

Redefining Realness video series

On January 30, 2014, Mock published six videos on YouTube that explore central themes from her memoir. She addresses her experience growing up transgender without parental support and expresses a desire to motivate young transgender girls. Subjects include coming out as transgender and engaging in sex work—an important topic in the book. Mock discusses how sex work offered immediate financial support and a sense of community despite its complexities. She references influences such as Beyoncé, Aaliyah, and Janet Jackson, integrating pop culture throughout the memoir. Regarding the concept of "passing," Mock emphasizes that she does not "pass" as a woman—she simply is one. The series concludes with reflections on how stories about inspiring women shaped her childhood and how her memoir aims to inspire young girls today.

Reception

Mock intended Redefining Realness chiefly for transgender girls of color, particularly her younger self. Nonetheless, numerous cisgender women of color have also found resonance with its themes. The memoir stands out as one of the limited literary works authored by transgender people of color, receiving acclaim for its complex portrayal and its fusion of Western and African autobiographical styles.

A 2014 critique underscored the memoir’s widespread appeal among queer, transgender, and female audiences. Scholar Julian Kevon Glover offers a critical viewpoint, suggesting that part of the memoir’s success is due to Mock’s conformity with heteronormative standards, conventional beauty ideals, and respectability politics. Glover contends that transgender women who diverge from these norms often face diminished media visibility. While Redefining Realness promotes representation for transgender women, many activists remain marginalized because of prevailing respectability frameworks.

Subsequently, Mock released a second memoir titled Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me, which centers on her experiences during her twenties—a period less covered in her initial book.

Influences

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God played a pivotal role in shaping Mock’s approach to writing Redefining Realness, resonating through themes of Black womanhood, identity, and love. Other influential Black female authors include Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, and Audre Lorde. The memoir also draws upon works by Ralph Ellison, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, and James Baldwin.

Reviewer David B. Green Jr. observes that Mock’s memoir builds upon the tradition of women of color writers while establishing connections with a broad audience extending beyond transgender women of color.

External links

• I Am #RedefiningRealness on Tumblr
• Review of Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More – Publishers Weekly, 2014